This invention relates to a drug packaging device for packaging prescribed drugs in bags or containers.
A drug packaging device is used to package prescribed drugs in bags or containers by putting drugs in each bag or container through a hopper inserted in the mouth of the bag or container and heat-sealing the mouth.
Drugs to be packaged come in a great variety of types and shapes, and the time needed for drugs discharged from drug feeders to pass through guides and the hopper and be delivered into each bag or container varies greatly from one type of drugs to another. In order to package all the necessary drugs in the respective bags or containers, the bags or containers are sealed after the drugs which take the longest time to reach the bags or containers have been put in the bags or containers.
Drugs are roughly classified into tablets, powder drugs and liquid drugs. Some of them need a longer time to be fed into a bag or container than others. For example, spherical tablets bounce in a bag or container and thus take a longer time to settle therein than tablets of an ordinary shape or capsules. Also, fine powder drugs tend to scatter like smoke in containers or bags and thus take a longer time to settle than granular drugs. In the case of liquid drugs, the higher their viscosity, the slower their flow speed, and thus the longer time needed for them to flow into a bag or container.
Since there is a wide difference in the times needed for drugs to be fed into bags and settle, from one type of drug to another, the speed with which the mouths of the bags or containers are sealed is set according to the drug that takes the longest time to be fed into containers and settle, so as to prevent incomplete packaging.
Thus, the seal starting time is unnecessarily delayed and the sealing speed is unnecessarily slow.
An object of this invention is to streamline the packaging operation of a drug packaging device to shorten the packaging time.